Chile's Molymet, the world's largest producer of Rhenium, said Wednesday its ability to produce the metal is likely to be limited in the coming years on lower rhenium content in concentrates.
Molymet is planning a major increase in its global processing capacity.
Chile-based Molymet produces more than half of the world's rhenium, which is largely used as an alloy in aircraft engines.
Rhenium is a byproduct of processing molybdenum. Molymet is also the world's largest producer of molybdenum.
The company plans to invest $450 million over the coming years, lifting its processing capacity through expansions plus new plants in China, South Korea and Brazil.
"As we expand processing capacity, we have the possibility of increasing rhenium recoveries," Molymet CEO John Graell told journalists in Santiago following a $266 million share issue to fund investments.
"But it is becoming harder to recover because of falling rhenium content in our raw materials," he said. "The final figure has yet to be seen, it will be a mixture of more processing capacity and lower grades in the raw material."
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